The History of Typing

Originally, of course, all writing was done by hand.

The first ever person to patent a typewriter was Henry Mill. His idea is entered in the records in the British Patent Office in 1714. Unfortunately Henry Mill never got around to manufacturing his machine due to impatience with manufacturing it.

More types of typewriters were invented after this, but were huge and heavy, some resembling the size of a piano, and took actually longer to use than handwriting itself, which obviously defeated the object!

The first person to actually manufacture the first practical typewriter was Christopher Scholes, who patented his second model in 1868 (this machine finally exceeding the speed of handwriting), along with the help of S.W. Soule and G. Glidden.

Scholes sold the rights of the typewriter over to Densmore, and Densmore improved the typewriter and its usability by using Philo Remington to market the machine. It was not an instant success however. The first Scholes and Glidden typewriter was offered for sale in 1873. It was not until a few years later that Remington's engineers worked on the device and improved it, that it became a success and sales rocketed. The first typewriter sold for $125. About 5000 were sold in the next four years and about 6 different models evolved in that time due to improvements. On some machines the return (carriage return) could be used by a foot pedal.

The keyboard then was designed in a way that the most commonly used letters were next to each other and thus, It was found that the keys jammed easily. A business associates, James Densmore suggested separating the most commonly used keys away from each other to slow down typing, and this is how we got today's keyboard arrangement, the QWERTY (the first six letters on the keyboard).

Typewriters became common in offices in the late 1880s. Initially the typewriter could only produce capital letters but it later was later modified with upper and lower case letters. A typewriter has (and still does on modern typewriters) a carriage containing a large roller which is used to return, (hence the name carriage return) and a small roller to hold the paper in place.

If you made a mistake it required a lot of rubbing out (including the carbon copies), or starting all over again.

Tippex was not invented until the 1950s and even then it was a powdery paper type of substance (not like the fluid we have now). But before you used it you had to still had to tub out the mistake on all of the carbon copies first. And then it still made a bit of a mess, so accuracy was paramount.

In the 1970's a Remington was still used and most students had to complete an RSA Certificate of competence in typing. This took a lot of time and care and if an error was made Tippex was used to correct errors. In the 1980s computers became more and more advanced and of course today we have the modern computer (thank goodness for that)!

Features to Look For in Time and Attendance Tracking Systems

Tracking time and attendance has been in use for a long time, ever since employment became much more formalized. Although time clocks are a much more evolved way to keep track of time and attendance, they are by no means the most efficient. Believe it or not, time clocks first came out over a century ago and while they have improved over the years, they are still subject to errors and dishonesty.

These days, however, time and attendance tracking is gradually moving to computer-run applications. These programs offer a much more efficient and secure way to record and monitor employee performance. To find out which system is best for your company, here are some important features to look for:

Capability to record both billable hours and non-billable hours

Time and attendance tracking systems should be able to track paid and non-paid hours. Although billable hours may seem like the more important component, non-billable hours are actually needed in order to monitor actual time spent on a project or task. This will help determine whether an employee is productive or if the task is cost effective in the long run.

Capability of recording and managing a variety of projects and tasks

An efficient time and attendance tracking system is one that lets you list the necessary projects and tasks required in your business. This allows users to simply select which tasks are relevant to them and then input the time spent performing those tasks.

Capability of being integrated into other systems used by other departments

Time and attendance tracking is usually relegated to Human Resources department. However, it is also a required report for the Accounting department and should be compatible with the system already in place. Your tracking system should also be easy to integrate into your company's billing system and project management applications. That way, invoicing, report generation and project assessment are much more efficient and easier to perform.

Flexibility of application

Look for a time and attendance tracking system that is adaptable to different applications. It should be able to handle different types of paid employees, including salaried employees and managers, flextime employees and telecommuting personnel. It should also be flexible enough to be used by your company's contractors and consultants. If some of your employees work for third parties, for example, you should be able to use your system to bill the correct number of hours your employees have spent on certain tasks.

Capability to produce reports

Ultimately, your goal in using a time and attendance tracking system is not just to produce reports for salary computation but also to view how productive your employees have been. Your system should be able to help you perform specific project management tasks and be able to analyze workflow and productivity using reports generated from the application. Use a system that can generate reports in text, figures and graphs for more flexibility.

Ease of use

The best time and attendance tracking system is one that is easy to install and does not impede immediate application with a steep learning curve. Vendors generally allow you to use a trial version of their system or might even allow you to run a completely functional application free of cost for a limited period so you can test run and see if it's useful to your company.

Look for an application that managers and employees alike can use on their own. This will help allow for a more independent recording of important information, to be monitored and checked only by a Human Resources staff for accuracy.

To determine which time and attendance tracking system is right for you, learn more about the different types of systems available that will fit your company's unique needs.

How Can You Improve on Bad Habits Concerning Trends?

After identifying your organization's bad habits about orienting yourself optimally relative to trends, you'll need to work at eliminating the bad habits so that they can be replaced with the desired habits. Communication and learning are good ways to begin.

Rather than starting by sharing the conclusions you arrive at about what your organization's bad habits are, you'll get better results if you take other people in your enterprise through the process of answering these questions:

1. What irresistible forces are already affecting your enterprise?

2. What has your enterprise done well in responding to, adapting to, anticipating, and creating these forces?

3. Why did your organization do well with regard to these forces?

4. What habits would have helped your organization to be more successful in these past situations?

5. What existing habits are in conflict with the habits that would help you be more successful?

You'll learn something, too, because you'll often find that the perceptions of others will differ from yours. With more perceptions to work with, you're likely to get better ideas for how to improve.

One way to do this is to measure performance and share the results. For example, most companies would never acquire oil producing companies if they realized that the inflation-adjusted dollar price of petroleum products has always declined over the long term. Seagram might never have bought Conoco had they realized this fact, and instead improved the company's acquisition habits while increasing the resources available for acquisitions.

Start Becoming a Stallbuster Now

Be sure to use the questions in each essay you read on this subject to tie the lessons of each lesson back to your organization. If you have not yet gotten out a pencil and some paper, or turned on your computer, now is a good time to begin making permanent your observations.

This article can be a valuable resource for you. But this will only happen if you follow through by working on the questions as they arise.

In addition to answering the questions, make a list of your own improvement ideas as they occur to you and keep the list with you as you read the rest of the book. You'll find that your ideas are likely to change and improve as you read more material and answer the questions at the end of each essay.

Make notes of how your ideas change. Keeping such a list will also encourage you to work more in this area of replacing bad habits because you'll have written record to show you how much you've learned from when you started reading these essays.

You will have obviously to move from thinking into action before the benefits will become tangible. Having a record of how much your thinking has been stalled will encourage you to take that needed action.

Copyright 2008 Donald W. Mitchell, All Rights Reserved

Donald Mitchell is chairman of Mitchell and Company, a strategy and financial consulting firm in Weston, MA. He is coauthor of seven books including Adventures of an Optimist, The Irresistible Growth Enterprise, and The Ultimate Competitive Advantage.

How To Find Legitimate Women's Shoe Wholesale Distributors And Avoid Being Scammed

When you are looking for women's shoe wholesale distributors online, chances are out of 10 you will come across about 7 to 8 scam sites. They are designed to avoid detection and lure sellers to commit to a purchase with no strings attached. This articles attempts to help you sift out these scam sites and avoid pitfalls. These tips do not only apply to women's shoe wholesale distributors but suppliers of other types of goods as well.

First of all, check the contact details of the company provided. Legitimate suppliers will definitely have a valid telephone number. It is advisable to contact the company via phone to make sure that it is valid and also to get a feel of its professionalism from the way the call recipient answers the call. Also, a real company will always use a land line as the contact number instead of a cell phone number.

Secondly, verify that the contact details include the full business name and its registration number. It would be ideal to be able to verify the information from the company registry of the country where the company resides.

Thirdly, do an online Whois lookup on the domain name of the company website. You can do it at http://www.whois.sc Check for the date the domain name was registered and its expiry. Legitimate women's shoe wholesale distributors for example will have its domain registered typically for a period of more than 3 years.

Fourthly, verify the address to make sure it is not a fake. Make sure it is valid and not in some poor, deserted and undeveloped area.

Last but not least, go for secure mode of payment like Escrow, Cod, Paypal or credit cards as far as possible. Try to avoid Western union and wire transfers which are unsecured and untraceable. Also, when doing business with any women's shoe wholesale distributors for the first time, order in smaller quantities first to establish the trust.

To save time and minimize the risk of running into scam sites, you can also opt for online listing of suppliers and distributors that reviews these companies before listing them in the database.

6 Tips On Choosing And Doing Business With Wholesale Wine Distributors

When choosing wholesale wine distributors to work with, there are a few areas to look into. Choice of wine, order quantity, reliability and quality of service will determine which wholesale wine distributors you should work with. Here we will look at 6 aspects.

1. Popularity of wine. This differs from country to country and state to state. For example, if your area is affected by anti-French sentiments, the sale of French wines would no doubt suffer. This will give you an idea which wholesale wine distributors to consider.

2. Minimum order quantity imposed by the wholesale wine distributors. It does not take rocket science to figure out that the more the order, the better the deal. However, if you do not have a big enough cellar to store the wines, it is pointless. Here, you have 2 options, order in smaller quantities or look for a distributor that will help you store the wines.

3. The profile of your target customer. Are you targeting the masses that will go for more economical choice of wine or are you selling to a selective group of people who only want the best? This will affect your choice of wine and consequently the wholesale wine distributors to work with. For example, although the price of French wines is affected by fluctuations in Euro against the US dollar, depending on your area, you might still be able to find customers who value quality more than price.

4. Is the packaging appealing and attractive? Do not underestimate the power of visual representation. French suppliers for example, have suffered loss of market share due to centuries of traditional methods, marketing, and labeling restrictions compared to new world wines.

5. Go for unique selections to differentiate yourselves from the rest of the retailers in your area as well as the big boys. This way, you will have higher chance of obtaining a steady pool of customers for your wine selections.

6. Check for any legislation within your area that affects the price of wine. For example, some states in US restrict that wholesaler must buy from wine makers at a mark up of 33.3% and retailers must sell at a mark up of 50%.

Knowing how to choose and work with wholesale wine distributors is one thing but finding a reputable and reliable distributor is another. Go for online distributor directories that feature reviews on wholesalers. One of these directories even has a forum where members who are retailers post comments on distributors. Joining these forums will give you a head start when dealing with the wholesalers.

George Tho is a webmaster and lover of ice wine. Read his review on an online directory with a database of over 4000 suppliers and wholesalers in different trades that has been reviewed by its staff and members together with a lively forum filled with retailers that will help you find reliable wholesale wine distributors here.

Selling your Southern California Business - Open Listings Vs Exclusive Listings

When it comes to selling your business in California, an exclusive listing with a business broker provides the greatest likelihood of success for both the seller and the broker.

Only a limited number of business brokers will accept an open listing, and typically, a broker that chooses to work with such a limited commitment from a seller will NOT provide the greatest amount of effort to sell the business. Likewise, the commitment level of the seller is questionable. To understand this point in more detail, let's start with a definition of the two types of listings.

Open Listing:

An Open Listing is an authorization to sell a business or property. It may be given to several brokers concurrently or the business may be sold by the owner himself. There is usually no time limit associated with this type of listing. If the owner sells the property through his own efforts, he is not responsible to pay commissions to any of the listing brokers. An open listing may be canceled by either party at any time.

Exclusive Right-to-Sell Listing:

The Exclusive Right-to-Sell listing is the most common type of listing. It provides one broker the right to sell the business exclusively. This listing entitles the broker to commissions on the sale during the life of the listing agreement, even if the owner himself sells the business. This type of listing runs for a specific period of time, usually six months. The agreement may only be canceled by the listing broker during that period.

Initially, the open listing may sound like a great way to maintain more options; however, typically this type of listing agreement is a waste of time for both the seller and the broker. Here are a few reasons why this agreement can be counter-productive.

• Initial Effort

For a business broker to do his job properly, he must invest a large amount of time and effort up front long before the business actually sells or even goes to market. He must review the business from many different perspectives and understand the many unique aspects of the business including operations, financials, history, marketing, licensing, leasehold and personnel. This work must be performed before the business goes to market. The only way a broker can protect this initial effort is to secure an exclusive agreement with the seller. That way he can feel secure in dedicating the proper amount of time and effort necessary to do his job well.

• Co-broker Concerns

Often a broker will have concerns about offering the business to other cooperating brokers with only an open listing. Unfortunately, there are some less ethical agents that may try to circumvent the original broker and bring a buyer directly to the seller. With an open listing, this is a real concern. You want your broker to be able to offer the business opportunity to any qualified business broker without hesitation. With an exclusive right-to-sell listing he has protection from any non-principled brokers.

• Marketing Restraints

The concerns about the way an open listing is marketed are two fold. First, a broker will be concerned about the amount of money they are willing to invest in marketing an open listing, knowing that it may be canceled at any moment. Secondly, the broker must be very careful about the details he reveals to prospective buyers because a buyer can move to a different broker, or even try to work directly with the owner at any time. Both of these worries restrain the marketing effort.

• Competing With the Owner

Often in an open listing the seller can and will compete with the broker by bringing in his own buyers. This type of environment can create an adversarial relationship between the seller and broker. Without the cooperation of both broker and seller, deals rarely ever close. I always describe the right relationship between the seller and his broker to be just like a good partnership. Both parties work together toward the same goal. Selling a business is a difficult operation; make sure you work together with your broker for the same goal. By doing this you have the highest likelihood of a successful transaction.

Joe D. Robertson is the Broker and Owner of Southern California Business Brokers; Orange County primer full-service business brokerage.

First Step For Business Expansion

A true businessman is one who believes in constant growth. Every business must be affluent enough to cater to its financial needs. As a good businessman you must be keeping an eye on your cash reserves and cash flow. There are times when you want to start some new business plan or need some finance for an overseas project. Most of the times, the main problem coming between you and your ambition is of adequate finance.

Commercial loans may help you in jumping this hurdle. Commercial loans help you by arranging funds so that you may not loose big business opportunity only due to the lack of funds.

You can acquire both secured and unsecured commercial loans depending on the situation. You must decide before applying for commercial loans, which kind of loan your business firm would be able to get comfortably. If there is no property in the name of your firm then you have to opt for an unsecured commercial loan. These loans never require any kind of security. They may offer you fund up to £25,000. You must take great care before opting for these loans. Make sure you check the interest rates because sometimes the interest rates with unsecured loans may be high, which can increase your liability. Businessmen who are confident enough for debt repayment go for the unsecured commercial loan. They have the fund they need and that too without risking any asset.

The more comfortable option for having a commercial business loan is to opt for a secured commercial loan. Financial institutions feel less risk in providing these loans. They acquire any of your assets as security and then sanction the loan. Usually these loans take less time in approval. One benefit with these loans is that you can raise a large amount of money. The loan amount can go up to £250,000. You are required to submit a business report with all your previous business details. You must mention your past credit history. The bank would show interest in your future plans so craft the project report with nicely described plan.

To give an excellent launch to your business plan a well planned commercial business loan is always advantageous. Various online loan opportunities are present now. You can compare different factors related to your commercial loan, such as the interest rates, repayment periods etc. Online loan applications are secure and convenient also.

About The Author: The author is a business writer specializing in finance and credit products and has written authoritative articles on the finance industry. He has done his masters in Business Administration and is currently assisting ask4loan.co.uk as a finance specialist.

Maximize Stakeholder Value Through The Cultivation Of Your Company's Most Important Asset

Maximize StakeholdIt's just not enough anymore to have a better mousetrap. You also have to have a better way of packaging it, selling it, supporting it, and nurturing a culture that makes the company behind the mousetrap seem truly unique.

As technology keeps getting better and the ability for us to communicate keeps improving, so too does the ability to copy-and even trump-market innovators with lightning speed. Today's exciting idea can often become just another "me-too" commodity alternative within months.

And so... as we've witnessed over the past decade-the companies that have been able to attain and sustain their market leadership status in this highly volatile and highly competitive environment are the ones who've found ways to develop a connectivity to their publics that reaches beyond just what they do, make or sell. They've learned that the brand's most important asset can often be the public's value of a big intangible- and sometimes unarticulated-idea that we call TRUST.

How much is trust worth?

According to Interbrand's 2007 survey of the world's 100 strongest brands, Coca-Cola is still by far the most valuable name on the planet-worth close to $66 billion (US). So, is this massive number-far larger than some developed countries' annual GNP-derived solely from a measure of sales or earnings?

Certainly sales and earnings are great indicators of past and present performance, but as the Interbrand report shows, the most prized brands also increase (and measure) their value as a metric of something else.

Coke-and every other brand in the club- have learned the art of increasing equity and growing stakeholder value through masterfully marketing and nurturing their intangible assets. Each and every firm on the list proactively builds a positive perception of brand strength and quality through the cultivation of good will-and trust.

Here's some other evidence of the economic power of trust...

A late 1990s independent corporate branding study of business leaders showed companies whose brands were deemed superior outperformed market stock averages by 25% over a ten-year period. And, during the market collapse in 1997, the 20 Fortune 1000 firms deemed to have the strongest brands actually gained in value, while the 20 with the weakest perception lost an average of $1 billion each.

A 2004 survey distributed to 1500 respondees at the 34th World Economic Forum showed that, on average, corporate leaders attribute more than 40% of their corporate value to trust-and 77% of those polled thought that maintaining a good reputation is becoming increasingly more important.

Brand guru David Aaker studied the association between stock price movements and changes in brand equity (measured by a Techtel poll of 1500 decision makers). His analysis showed that "every 1 percent increase in brand equity (trust) can be associated with a roughly 1 percent increase in stock return." Aaker claims that this correlation is "consistent with the fact that investors realize that trust in a brand is an asset that can lead to higher future-term earnings."

In 1989, the Kraft Foods brand sold for an incredible $12.9 billion-six times over its net asset value! Phillip Morris was willing to pay billions for the anticipated future revenues a set of intangible assets could provide.

Build trust to build your brand value.

Building a stronger brand by paying attention to intangible assets isn't just the domain of the giant, multi-national brands. The positive power of emotional connection is crucial to the development of your brand as well-maybe even more so. A strong appeal, distinction and positive "buzz" can help you break out of the pack and grow a bigger and better fan club.

Not only will taking an interactive role in the cultivation of trust result in greater numbers of happier and more loyal customers, but growing good will can result in happier and more loyal investors too.

To help, I've outlined some areas of attention that can be enhanced to increase the value of your brand. Hopefully, they'll inspire you to become more conscious and pro-active. And then, who knows-maybe next year you'll be able to make the Interbrand Top 100 list.

Integrate these building blocks of trust.

Coolness The endorsement of a respected third-party or friend is a powerful tool for the establishment of trust. Many firms have learned to build a "coolness" factor by marketing their ideas to fans who may never use their products or services directly, but may be in a position to recommend them to someone who can.

Cultivate your "coolness" factor by making good news. Become an involved corporate citizen. Find ways to get your name top of mind through senseless acts of good will. Coolness must be thoroughly embraced and integrated throughout the organization, become part of your culture, and be reflected in the experience of doing business with you. Get others saying great things about who you are and what you do.

Empathy Are you able to build a rapport with those you serve by identifying and sharing stories that address mutually shared views, ideas and experiences? They will trust you more if they feel understood.

Share your insights into their issues through relevant case studies, how-to's, tips and hints (like the ones that I'm outlining here).

Chemistry Is your corporate personality well suited to your customers'? People feel more comfortable being served by friends who care.

Seek out those customers and ambassadors who share your values and will be a "good fit", and try to discourage and minimize relationships with those who won't be. You'll be happier and so will they.

Selflessness Is your interest in your customers' success -- do you truly want to know what his/her needs are? Are you willing to listen? Will they feel heard and served?

Survey and poll often to see that you're doing all you can to help. Find ways to let them know that you are listening and genuinely interested in exceeding their expectations.

Ability Are prospects convinced that you're capable? Have you done it before? For whom? What's your track record of success handling situations like theirs? Is it impressive? Do you present yourself as (and are you) the best in the business?

Cultivate endorsements from satisfied customers. Provide references. Track and publish your results. Keep improving your knowledge, products and services. If you're not now the best, commit yourself to becoming that.

Uniqueness Do your solutions appear more attractive than someone else's in your market space? Do you have a unique system, philosophy or technological edge that no one else can possibly offer? Does that edge convey compelling value? What makes you so special that they'd be foolhardy to go somewhere else?

Encourage brand ambassadors to take an interactive role in the creation of innovation and new ideas. Cultivate an atmosphere of openness and creativity. Study your competitors to be sure that your products and solutions are always one step ahead.

Clarity Are you clear-and are they clear-about your processes, costs, and the results they can expect to receive? Any ambiguity will erode your credibility and lead to mistrust.

Make an extra effort to simplify and clarify all your communications and customer transactions. Train your sales force and brand ambassadors so that they know how to present your case clearly and succinctly. It will pay off in more contracts, stronger relationships and more referrals.

Integrity Are you honest with them and yourself? Will you/have you/can you deliver on your promises?

Make honesty and integrity a number one priority at all levels of the organization. Be proud of what you do and try not to compromise any of your values... ever.

Creativity Are you just providing a service, or are you constantly committed to adding extra value by delivering more than asked for?

With every transaction ask yourself if there's any more I can do to make this customer happier. If so, take action.

Performance Is your solution as flawless as possible? Will it delight or disappoint? Satisfaction or better can get you a re-order, a referral and create positive buzz. Just mediocre is, well... just mediocre.

What can you do to improve your brand's performance at every turn?

Loyalty Unselfish loyalty to your customer and his/her needs can pay off in huge dividends long-term if the customer feels taken care of and appreciated.

Build relationships based on positive experiences. Do everything you can to honestly win their confidence. Establish a system for ensuring some type of follow-up. Remember important dates and client preferences. Call them from time to time to see how things are working out or just to say "hello". Cultivate an environment of courtesy, respect and attentiveness. Be more loyal to them and many more customers and prospects will begin being more loyal to you.

Trust is built on a series of positive experiences.

Use every opportunity to create more of them.

Review these building blocks often to gauge your performance. Embrace a culture that puts building ambassador trust at the forefront of the organization. Over time, the brands that focus of improving the quality of their intangible assets will build equity and stakeholder value over their competition's.

Those that fail to follow these tenets, do so at their own peril.er Value Through The Cultivation Of Your Company's Most Important Asset

When the Startup Becomes a Dinosaur

I couldn't help thinking that this Microsoft vs. Yahoo conquest is just another example of the influence of money. By that I don't mean the financial influence of Microsoft's vast empire but instead the moment when a company goes from being one with a startup mentality to becoming a (gasp) corporation.

In April, 1996 Yahoo had it's initial public offering . Over the next four years Yahoo's rise to power was dramatic, culminating in a stock price of $475 a share in early 2001. This meteoric rise can be traced to two major factors: innovative ideas and a reputation for giving users the information they want even if it meant Yahoo would not make money off of it. It was during this time period that Yahoo was wildly successful at acquisitions as a means of launching new products. You had Yahoo Mail, Yahoo Instant Messenger, and Yahoo Groups emerge from this strategy of buying up innovative products and making them uniquely Yahoo. The evolution of the little startup from Stanford to large internet corporation appeared to going smashingly well.

However, another important event began to happen at this time. The original founders of Yahoo became rich (According to Forbes, Jerry Yang's net worth is 2.2 billion). They were no longer a big group of friends working together to see how far this thing can go. The thing went and they were given huge sums of money for making it go. Here is the rub: Just when the payoff came it was time for the really hard decisions to be made.

This is where the real failure of Yahoo occurred. It's like the baseball player after his big contract year. They got fat. They lost that startup mentality. When they were a startup company it was all about creating a vision for the company and reaching for new and innovative ideas that would fit into that vision. When they finally became an internet giant they stopped reaching and started playing defense. The response was to keep playing the acquisition strategy. The problem with that is when you are growing it is a great way to gain market share but when you become a huge corporation you are adding levels. Those levels need to be assimilated to the company and need to be managed effectively. As a result your ability to adapt to change is greatly hindered. Somewhere along the line Yahoo got too big and became a corporation complete with comfort levels and prudence. In 2007 the board brought back Yahoo founder Jerry Yang as CEO but he has proven unequivocally that he is out o
f his element. He is a visionary not a manager and Yahoo is now too big and out of touch for visionaries.

The cruel irony in all of this is that the reason Yahoo had to start playing defense is largely because of Google, the company they helped build by outsourcing their full text search to them. Unlike Yahoo, Google somehow has maintained that startup mentality. Maybe it is their management style or group hugs or sitting around singing Kumbaya but whatever it is they have the "it" factor. They are the trendsetters not the wannabes. They continue to push the envelope while maintaining the best user experience, all because they are able to maintain that startup mentality.

What is truly amazing is that Yahoo may end up being devoured by Microsoft, a company that will never be confused with having a startup mentality. Oh well, I guess great minds think alike.

How Effective Is Your Answering Service?

When running a clinic or medical practice, efficiency can literally save you hundreds of dollars per week... and tens of thousands or more in a year. Getting a good medical answering service to work for you can give you this edge. However, with so many choices in phone answering services today, it can leave your head swimming with possibilities. It's actually quite simple. There are certain key factors that put some way above all the rest. So, before you invest in a call answering service, know what to look for:

24/7 Multiple capabilities

An efficient doctor answering service is able to perform one of several tasks at any given time. Whether it is being used as an after-hours medical receptionist or as a backup clinic receptionist during the busiest hours of the day, an efficient system should enable a caller to schedule an appointment, contact medical staff in case of an emergency, or leave a voice mail.

User-friendliness

A user-friendly physician answering service system is a pleasure to use, both for your patients and your staff. It encourages patients to call your office to schedule an appointment or make an inquiry, even when reaching an automated after office hours answering service. Staff members appreciate having more time to take care of other more pressing matters such as patient care and medical billing.

Free Online 24/7 Tech Support

A good virtual answering service will offer life time 24/7 technical support. No matter how user-friendly a system may be, your staff members who are only familiar with providing live answering services may feel intimidated or that they are not tech-savvy enough to work with an automated system. 24/7 support puts your staff at ease, knowing that they can get friendly and helpful support whenever they need it.

Choosing an a 24/7 medical answering service is easy, once you know which elements support maximum efficiency. Looking for a system with multiple capabilities, user friendliness and free online tech support are three major factors to consider. At the end of the year, an efficient answering message service could make the difference of thousands of dollars in retained revenue.

Bringing a Product to Market

Bringing a product to market can be a very frustrating process. It is one that does not happen mystically or by chance. Instead, successful entrepreneurs follow certain timeless principles that enable them to make their goals a reality. Fortunately, these principles can be broken down into specific steps that you can adapt to your own product launching efforts. In fact, there are 9 of them.

In this article, we will examine each of these 9 steps in detail. By understanding these steps inside and out, you will be better positioned to launch your product no matter where in the process you happen to be. Feel free to skip to the stage of product development or launch that you happen to be in.

Step 1: Thinking of an idea

Brainstorming invention ideas can feel like a strange, mystical process. Much of this stems from the way people tend to think about ideas. If you have ever heard someone say "You can't think of great ideas. They just come to you", you know what this means. We are taught that good ideas spontaneously pour into us, and we need the good sense to act on them if and when they do. Venture capitalist Paul Graham addresses this in his article "Ideas For Startups"

"If coming up with an idea for a startup equals coming up with a million dollar idea, then of course it's going to seem hard. Too hard to bother trying. Our instincts tell us something so valuable would not be just lying around for anyone to discover."

The problem with this line of thinking, as Paul later explains, is that ideas in and of themselves are not what generates millions of dollars. The reason we feel so much internal resistance to the prospect of actively generating ideas is that we figure "If there was a good idea, someone else would've had it already." In fact, this is the wrong way to look at ideas. Generating ideas is an active (and active-minded) process. What really makes ideas pay is how they are executed, which is something you can control considerably. But it does, of course, start with the idea.

So if it is possible to generate ideas, how is it done? One good way to generate ideas is to limit your thinking to fields you like, or know exceptionally well. This limits the people you are competing against to those with your level of passion and expertise.

What you really want to do is turn off the self-censorship instinct that all of us have as human beings. When we come up with ideas or new thoughts, we tend to think "No, that's stupid" just because we have not already heard it elsewhere. Instead, try submitting your idea to a few minutes of rational scrutiny before discarding it as worthless. Think it through from top to bottom. Would I buy this? If not, why? What might my objections be? Can they be overcome? How? The further you get into this process, the more value your idea probably has. Above all, just let the ideas flow. You will separate the wheat from the chaff in step two.

Step 2: Decide if your idea is worth pursuing.

There's nothing like the enthusiasm one feels during a proverbial "I've got it!" moment. However, you still need to step back and reflect soberly on whether your idea is worth pursuing. Here are some things to consider in doing this.

Determine how well it will work.

How well will your idea work in practice? Will it work well enough to replace what people in this field already use? One easy way to determine this is to actively work in the field you envision your product being used for. This will give you a first hand glimpse into the current reality of what's out there and let you tangibly see how your creation would improve it. If that's not possible, find someone you trust in that field and bounce your idea off of them for feedback.

Who wants it?

There's nothing worse than wasting weeks, months, or even years theorizing about a creation that's "gonna be soooo great!" only to discover that no specific segment of customers truly wants it. To avoid this nightmare scenario, tell others about your idea. Ask them if and in what way it would truly improve their lives. The trick here is asking people who don't know you very well. They are more likely to be honest instead of preoccupied with not hurting your feelings.

How can it be made?

Another common pitfall is glossing over the messy particulars of how something will be made. In the euphoria of brainstorming, your mind is naturally drawn to the sexy aspects of invention, such as the huge market waiting to be capitalized or your pitch to investors. Instead, force yourself to focus on exactly what it will take to bring your patent idea to life. How can it be made? What materials are needed? What types of skills are necessary to put it all together? Having firm answers to these questions turns you from dreamer into doer.

If your idea can withstand this type of analysis, you are ready for step three.

Step 3: Creating an inventor's logbook.

Documenting new ideas is not just good practice. It may be absolutely critical if you intend on getting a patent for something and bringing it to market. So how do you go about keeping good records?

The answer is something called a logbook. A logbook is essentially an inventor's journal. It is where the inventor keeps track of his progress and dates each step. A logbook proves that you came up with your idea at a certain date and displayed due diligence in pursuing it. However, there are some definite standards you should adhere to when keeping a logbook. This will help ensure that your documentation looks legitimate to patent examiners.

1. You should start your logbook as soon as you think of an idea. Write down detailed records of key concepts, test results, and anything else having to do with the creation of your idea. This is the type of material that belongs in a logbook.

2. While there are pre-made logbooks for sale, you can easily make your own. Be sure to use a bound notebook, however, and not a loose-leaf. The reason is that bound notebooks make it hard to conceal the fact that pages were added or taken out.

3. Number each page consecutively. This establishes that the progress you made on your idea took place in a sequential order that anyone with common sense can observe. When one notebook is full, begin a new one and specify that this notebook is a continuation of the last one. There should be no visible gaps in your record keeping.

4. Each entry you write should be signed and dated by you and anyone else who participated in that step of the invention process. If at all possible, get a notary public to sign as well.

5. Give each entry a header with information about what is contained in it. For example, the date, subject, number of participants, witnesses, etc.

6. Include records of everything you do. When in doubt, assume that it is best to include it. Do not just include successful test results, for example. If you exclude negative findings or tests, the patent examiner may decide that you "cherry-picked" only the good stuff and reject your application.

7. Any and all other participants in the invention process need to have their roles disclosed. The importance of this convention cannot be stressed enough. If you omit an inventor's name from an invention he helped create, it is considered fraud.

8. Any loose materials like drawings, photos, or sketches should be signed, dated, and cross-referenced to the notebook entry they pertain to. It is best to tape or staple this material to the notebook entries in question.

Follow these tips, and your documentation will be airtight and at the ready, should a dispute ever arise.

Step 4: Identify a target market.

When you set out to bring a product to market, it's essential to know which market you are targeting. Many new entrepreneurs make the mistake of shooting for a very broad segment of the population. Their logic is that the more people they target, the more chances they have to make sales. In reality, however, it rarely works this way. In fact, you want to target as narrow a segment as you possibly can. This makes the people you target more likely to buy, and enables you to do more specific market research in your efforts.

Who is your ideal customer? What are their buying behaviors? Is your product seasonal, or do people typically buy it each and every month? The importance of scoping out the market cannot be stressed enough, as it will determine your distribution plans, price structure, and other important factors.

Ultimately, you will craft a marketing plan based on your target market. That is somewhat beyond the scope of this article, but here is a sample marketing plan. Consult it for details on what types of forecasts you should be setting and how to set them.

SRC: http://www.morebusiness.com/templates_worksheets/bplans/printpre.brc

Once you have thought these questions through and come up with some plausible answers, proceed to step 5.

Step 5: Research that market.

Once you have identified your target market, the next step is to research it.

In this phase, you want to immerse yourself in trade journals, spec sheets, and periodicals about the industry your patent pertains to. You want to discover the prices of various commodities in the market that you will traffic in, the supply and demand patterns that determine the flow of the market. The goal of all this fact-finding is answering the following questions:

1. Who are my customers? (age, sex, income, etc.)

2. Where are they and how can I reach them? (what magazines/newspapers do they read?)

3. What quantity (and quality) do they want? (are there surveys that gather this data?)

4. What is the best time to sell? (Seasonal, yearly, etc.)

Many trade journals and industry sources can be accessed via the Internet. Yahoo, for example, offers an abundance of such material segmented by industry. Simply click the industry you want to research (law, jewelry, automotive, etc.) and you can browse a list of sources pertaining to them.

SRC: http://dir.yahoo.com/Business_and_Economy/Business_to_Business/News_and_Media/Magazines/Trade_Magazines/

Step 6: Re-evaluate/improve your product based on that research.

To paraphrase Prussian Field Marshall Helmuth von Moltke, "no product survives first contact with reality." If you are like most entrepreneurs, picking a target market and researching it has given you some ideas to improve your product. Here are some things you can tinker with, based on what you learned?

* Product packaging

* Pricing

* Distribution (where you'll sell it)

* The name

* Just about anything else open to your control

Once you have made the improvements you see fit, head to step 7 -- the prototype!

Step 7: Create a prototype.

Creating a prototype is one of the most rewarding phases of the invention process. It is that fateful day when all your hopes, dreams, planning, and research culminate in a working model. By this point, you are ready to whip up that prototype for display to investors, business partners, or the patent office (see next step.) Keep in mind that your prototype does not have to use the same materials, or look exactly like your finished product ultimately will. It just has to approximate what you have in mind and demonstrate that you are in fact working on it.

Once you have a prototype up and running, you can proceed to step 8.

Step 8: Secure a patent.

In the understandable excitement and inspirational fire of creation, many inventors rush into the patent process without doing their homework. Unfortunately, their zeal to push forward often comes back to haunt them in the form of longer wait times, higher fees, and more work that could have been avoided with proper planning.

One of the biggest mistakes many inventors make is filing a non-provisional patent right away. A non-provisional patent is "the real patent." To file for one, you need to fill out a bevy of legal forms, include sketches and drawings of your invention, and pay hefty fees. If your application is approved, you are granted a patent by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

While many inventors will one day need to do this, few of them need to do it immediately. Instead, there is another equally safe but less expensive way to go: the $100 provisional patent application. In a provisional patent application, you do not file a formal patent claim, oath, or any disclosure statements about your invention. But what a provisional patent will do is lock in your application date and give you "patent pending" status.

If you have ever seen "patent pending" on product packaging or commercials, it is because the company in question filed a provisional patent application with the Patent and Trademark Office. It is actually unlawful to use "patent pending" unless you have done this.

What this means in layman's terms is that you can begin to market your invention and gauge how much interest (if any) there is before deciding to file for a non-provisional patent. In the meantime, you can market your invention with the full rights and protections of a non-provisional patent. If you have ever seen "patent pending" on product packaging or commercials, it is because the company in question filed a provisional patent application with the Patent and Trademark Office.

If you are smart and work quickly, you can use that 12 month period to hustle your idea and generate interest in it. By the end of that time you should have a very good idea of whether it is worth applying for a non-provisional patent.

Step 9: Decide on your track

There are several "tracks" you can take to bring your product to the marketplace.

One track is to become an "outsource entrepreneur." In this way, you essentially become a hired gun. You, the inventor, perform the tasks of researching and developing the product. Then, you "outsource" the manufacturing and marketing to partners with money. Those partners will develop, market, and fund the startup costs. In return for their greater efforts, they will receive a greater return. The benefit to you, however, is that this is one of the quickest ways to bring a product to market and exit with cash in hand. If you are a serial inventor, this can be a great way to build up some cash and move on from one idea to the next.

A second track open to you is licensing or selling your patent outright. Very simply, licensing is when another company takes over your new product idea and cuts you in on the sales via royalties. While selling a patent is fairly self explanatory on the surface, you should seek consultation from a lawyer prior to finalizing an agreement to ensure all legal documents are in place. Licensees can be manufacturers, marketers, or basically anyone who wants to carry your product into the market and pay you for the right to do so. Licensing arrangements are also flexible; some licensees take on all the risk, some take on less. However, most companies will only license a product if they are more or less sure it will succeed. Therefore, it is up to you to convince them of your product's prospects.

The disadvantage of licensing is that the earning potential is a bit lower than outsourcing, but the tremendous upside is that once you license a product you basically have no more responsibility to the product.

The other track is the most risky, and thusly the most potentially rewarding: starting your own company. In this case, you assume full responsibility: you make the product, you price the product, you get the product online or on store shelves, you handle the accounting, you pay the taxes, you own the process from start to finish. For more information on the steps involved, including writing a business plan and finding a manufacturer, view our other articles.

This is by far the most difficult process and many people rightfully so decide before hand to opt for sales or licensing agreements. However, if you do decide to move forward and create a business (highest reward and most risk) around your intellectual property you want to ensure that you hire on top talent. Failing to do so can lead to years of problems and ongoing stress. It's far better to invest in something you believe in and share some of the pie to increase your chances of building a successful company than to go it alone and take arrows.

By keeping these 9 steps in mind, you can increase the likelihood of success in bringing your product to market with confidence and profitability.

Tips on Business Culture in Dubai

Business is booming in Dubai and many Britons are heading out there to work. But, anyone thinking of working there must familiarise themselves with the cultural etiquette before starting work there, if they are to avoid insulting Dubai nationals, or even break the country's laws.

The first thing to consider is respect. Never criticise or correct a client or colleague in front of others. Causing such a public loss of face will ensure that the individual concerned with be filled with resentment and make any future co-operation extremely difficult. Sensitive discussions with a colleague or client should be done in private.

Western businesses may choose their own working hours, but bear in mind that Arab companies schedule their working week from Saturday to Wednesday; working hours start at 8 a.m. and stop at 1 p.m. In the scorching heat of summer a siesta is a common practice taken until 4 p.m. with work resuming immediately afterwards until 7 p.m. During the Muslin festival of Ramadan the working day becomes two hours shorter.

Arab cultures dress much more conservatively than western cultures as a rule, and although it may be more relaxed in Dubai there is still an unspoken dress code that must be closely followed. Ensure clothes are worn that cover both the body and limbs - however hot and oppressive the heat may be - and they must be smart.

The Muslim day of prayer and rest is Friday, so avoid making phone calls or scheduling meetings with any Muslim clients or colleagues on that day. During Ramadan Muslims are not permitted to eat, drink or smoke during daylight hours but non-believers can, although they must be sensitive to the occasion and do so away from public gaze.

Business meetings with Arab clients or colleagues may begin with a very informal preamble. They often take place in restaurants or cafes at a Dubai business hotel rather than an office, beginning with polite conversation, usually about each other's families. However, whenever the conversation turns to business it is usually resolved much quicker than in formal western business meetings. When meeting a handshake is followed by a touch of the heart with the right hand to show sincerity, and a woman's hand is shaken only if it is offered.

Although business meetings are less formal than western standards, by contrast business lunches tend to be more formal. As a strict rule alcohol is never involved, and it is essential that when sitting opposite an Arab colleague or client that the soles of shoes are not directed towards them as that is considered extremely offensive in Arabic culture.

There are many other less obvious do's and don'ts involved with ensuring that business is conducted efficiently, properly and without offence in Dubai, and as with any business deal anyone travelling there should ensure that they are thoroughly briefed before they leave.

Andrew Regan is an online, freelance author from Scotland. He is a keen rugby player and enjoys travelling.

SBIR Accounting - Audits and NSF SBIR Grants

Because each agency determines the rules under which the SBIR will operate, the number of audits and likelihood of audits is different for different agencies. This article discusses NSF grants and audits.

Audits of NSF grants are conducted by the Office of Audits which is part of the Office of the Attorney General. They conduct all financial audits of NSF's awards and awardee institutions to determine whether costs claimed by awardees are allowable, reasonable, and properly allocated. An NSF grant will only be audited at the request of the program officer.

For NSF grants, there are two kinds of audits: financial audits and performance audits. Financial audits review cost sharing, indirect costs, timekeeping, and subrecipient monitoring. Performance audits occur if the program officer suspects that Phase I results may have been exaggerated or falsified or in a case of plagiarism.

For a financial audit, typical findings include lack of time records to support labor costs, lack of consulting agreements and invoices to support award related services, indirect cost recoveries exceeded contract specified amount, unallowable costs included as billable costs, expenditures in categories not detailed in proposal, and general lack of supporting documentation.

To avoid being audited, make sure that your budget is clear and you are sticking to it. If you need to make a change, notify your program manager sooner rather than later and always in writing. Make sure that all of your reports are turned in on time. Do not exaggerate any of your findings.

To make sure that you will have no findings if you are audited, keep good time and salary reporting documentation, adhere to your cost sharing agreement, provide adequate equipment purchase justification, and most importantly, keep a paper trail of every decision you make and every change you make.

In general, the NSF tends to give the awardee the benefit of the doubt; however, this does not mean that the penalties for failing to meet your award conditions are any less severe than any of the other agencies.

Ms. Worrall is the President of Worrall Consulting, LLC. Worrall Consulting is a finance and business strategy consultancy providing professional services to high growth, early stage companies. The company provides capital formation assistance, market research and business intelligence, and business planning strategy.

Accept Checks with Confidence with a Check Reader

Even though a lot of people seem to be using credit cards exclusively for incidental purchases these days, the truth is checks are still a preferred method of payment for a lot of people.

It doesn't make sense not to accept checks, since most people will expect to have that option, but there are certainly some things to worry about when you do accept checks. There's always the danger that someone has stolen the checks from their rightful owner or that they just don't have the money to pay for what they're writing the check for.

There will always be some risk involved in accepting checks, but these days technology makes your life a little easier with an invention known as a check reader.

A check reader is basically a scanner that the check is fed into. It reads the check and automatically debits the check writer's account at the time of purchase.

The money is deposited into your account within 24 hours -- you don't even have to drive to the bank and physically deposit the check.

Using a check reader means you'll know before the customer leaves the store if he or she has written a bad check. You'll also get your payment a lot more quickly than if you used the traditional method of accepting a check, depositing it into your account and waiting for it to clear.

A check reader can take a lot of the guesswork out of accepting checks and will make you feel more secure when accepting checks for high-dollar items. Posting a sign that you have a check reader will make customers aware of the system and prevent people from writing bad checks in the first place.

Check readers are commonly available from the same companies that provide payment processing for credit cards and merchant accounts. Some companies even provide this equipment for free to people who are interested in using it.

You'll no longer have to limit yourself to only accepting checks from the local area in case you have to try to track someone down who wrote a hot check. The reader will do all the work for you and tell you in a matter of seconds if the payment has gone through, regardless of where the customer's bank is located.

There's no reason not to get a check reader. You'll get paid faster and know immediately if someone is writing a bad check. At the end of the day, you'll know that the money you made today is going to be in you account tomorrow. What could be better?

B2Bs Redefine International Trade

While the mesmerizing world of e-commerce gave birth to Business to Consumer (B2C) portals or otherwise known as e-tailers, the business world believed that these portals will be the ultimate tool in global trade. In the course of time, the B2Cs began to show signs of limitations, the way it could function. It literally turned the usage "consumer" in singular or smaller group sense. Eventually, businesses went back to their earlier practices of connecting with other businesses in the conventional manner. In a globalized and internet world going back to ancient trading methods were preposterous and the trading community felt that they needed a concept or process which could make things easier for them to do international trade.

B2C gradually metamorphosed into Business to Business (B2B) portal which went on to become the most effective tool in international trade. Today if one makes a background check on any overnight success in exim business, one can find the supporting arms of one or many B2B portals. B2Bs became a run away success because it was able to provide comprehensive solution for anyone's exim business just being in one's office.

Besides, the traders were able to bring down the cost of their products or/and services to bare minimum because they spent very less on finding new prospect/s through B2B's. Some of the top B2B portals in the world provide more information about one's business activities in their respective B2B profiles than one's company website. While company website functioned as web shop of one's products or/and services, B2B profiles of one's company served as feeders to one's web shop.

Even though B2Bs have done a world of good to international trade, they have not derived the right place in the world of business so far. Perhaps one reason for that could be, when compared to other services or concepts, B2B transactions are immeasurable. That is because there is no mandatory clause that makes the trader to provide data once the deal is through. Since the industry has not grown to the level of imposing rules, it is unlikely to draw the value and volume of the transactions take place on these portals. Once a viable mechanism to measure the value and volume is in place, the traders will be induced to seek the services of B2Bs without any hesitation regardless of region or size.

The goal of B2Bs is to unify the trading world and all the top portals are striving hard to provide simple solution to the traders for their trading needs. B2Bs have shown the world that businesses of any size can do business without any go between and enabled the traders to minimize the cost and time involved in international trading.

Initially B2Bs' image was tarnished by quick buck solution providers who attracted gullible traders by promising the moon. Those portals either vanished or became namesake entities. But the B2B majors are getting stronger and indispensable factor in exim business. The day is not far away the B2B space in e-commerce to be ruled by few players. In such a scenario it will certainly help every trader regardless of size to utilize the services of all the available portals.

Accept Checks with Confidence with a Check Reader

Even though a lot of people seem to be using credit cards exclusively for incidental purchases these days, the truth is checks are still a preferred method of payment for a lot of people.

It doesn't make sense not to accept checks, since most people will expect to have that option, but there are certainly some things to worry about when you do accept checks. There's always the danger that someone has stolen the checks from their rightful owner or that they just don't have the money to pay for what they're writing the check for.

There will always be some risk involved in accepting checks, but these days technology makes your life a little easier with an invention known as a check reader.

A check reader is basically a scanner that the check is fed into. It reads the check and automatically debits the check writer's account at the time of purchase.

The money is deposited into your account within 24 hours -- you don't even have to drive to the bank and physically deposit the check.

Using a check reader means you'll know before the customer leaves the store if he or she has written a bad check. You'll also get your payment a lot more quickly than if you used the traditional method of accepting a check, depositing it into your account and waiting for it to clear.

A check reader can take a lot of the guesswork out of accepting checks and will make you feel more secure when accepting checks for high-dollar items. Posting a sign that you have a check reader will make customers aware of the system and prevent people from writing bad checks in the first place.

Check readers are commonly available from the same companies that provide payment processing for credit cards and merchant accounts. Some companies even provide this equipment for free to people who are interested in using it.

You'll no longer have to limit yourself to only accepting checks from the local area in case you have to try to track someone down who wrote a hot check. The reader will do all the work for you and tell you in a matter of seconds if the payment has gone through, regardless of where the customer's bank is located.

There's no reason not to get a check reader. You'll get paid faster and know immediately if someone is writing a bad check. At the end of the day, you'll know that the money you made today is going to be in you account tomorrow. What could be better?

First Step For Business Expansion

A true businessman is one who believes in constant growth. Every business must be affluent enough to cater to its financial needs. As a good businessman you must be keeping an eye on your cash reserves and cash flow. There are times when you want to start some new business plan or need some finance for an overseas project. Most of the times, the main problem coming between you and your ambition is of adequate finance.

Commercial loans may help you in jumping this hurdle. Commercial loans help you by arranging funds so that you may not loose big business opportunity only due to the lack of funds.

You can acquire both secured and unsecured commercial loans depending on the situation. You must decide before applying for commercial loans, which kind of loan your business firm would be able to get comfortably. If there is no property in the name of your firm then you have to opt for an unsecured commercial loan. These loans never require any kind of security. They may offer you fund up to £25,000. You must take great care before opting for these loans. Make sure you check the interest rates because sometimes the interest rates with unsecured loans may be high, which can increase your liability. Businessmen who are confident enough for debt repayment go for the unsecured commercial loan. They have the fund they need and that too without risking any asset.

The more comfortable option for having a commercial business loan is to opt for a secured commercial loan. Financial institutions feel less risk in providing these loans. They acquire any of your assets as security and then sanction the loan. Usually these loans take less time in approval. One benefit with these loans is that you can raise a large amount of money. The loan amount can go up to £250,000. You are required to submit a business report with all your previous business details. You must mention your past credit history. The bank would show interest in your future plans so craft the project report with nicely described plan.

To give an excellent launch to your business plan a well planned commercial business loan is always advantageous. Various online loan opportunities are present now. You can compare different factors related to your commercial loan, such as the interest rates, repayment periods etc. Online loan applications are secure and convenient also.

About The Author: The author is a business writer specializing in finance and credit products and has written authoritative articles on the finance industry. He has done his masters in Business Administration and is currently assisting ask4loan.co.uk as a finance specialist.

The History of Typing

Originally, of course, all writing was done by hand.

The first ever person to patent a typewriter was Henry Mill. His idea is entered in the records in the British Patent Office in 1714. Unfortunately Henry Mill never got around to manufacturing his machine due to impatience with manufacturing it.

More types of typewriters were invented after this, but were huge and heavy, some resembling the size of a piano, and took actually longer to use than handwriting itself, which obviously defeated the object!

The first person to actually manufacture the first practical typewriter was Christopher Scholes, who patented his second model in 1868 (this machine finally exceeding the speed of handwriting), along with the help of S.W. Soule and G. Glidden.

Scholes sold the rights of the typewriter over to Densmore, and Densmore improved the typewriter and its usability by using Philo Remington to market the machine. It was not an instant success however. The first Scholes and Glidden typewriter was offered for sale in 1873. It was not until a few years later that Remington's engineers worked on the device and improved it, that it became a success and sales rocketed. The first typewriter sold for $125. About 5000 were sold in the next four years and about 6 different models evolved in that time due to improvements. On some machines the return (carriage return) could be used by a foot pedal.

The keyboard then was designed in a way that the most commonly used letters were next to each other and thus, It was found that the keys jammed easily. A business associates, James Densmore suggested separating the most commonly used keys away from each other to slow down typing, and this is how we got today's keyboard arrangement, the QWERTY (the first six letters on the keyboard).

Typewriters became common in offices in the late 1880s. Initially the typewriter could only produce capital letters but it later was later modified with upper and lower case letters. A typewriter has (and still does on modern typewriters) a carriage containing a large roller which is used to return, (hence the name carriage return) and a small roller to hold the paper in place.

If you made a mistake it required a lot of rubbing out (including the carbon copies), or starting all over again.

Tippex was not invented until the 1950s and even then it was a powdery paper type of substance (not like the fluid we have now). But before you used it you had to still had to tub out the mistake on all of the carbon copies first. And then it still made a bit of a mess, so accuracy was paramount.

In the 1970's a Remington was still used and most students had to complete an RSA Certificate of competence in typing. This took a lot of time and care and if an error was made Tippex was used to correct errors. In the 1980s computers became more and more advanced and of course today we have the modern computer (thank goodness for that)!

Bringing a Product to Market

Bringing a product to market can be a very frustrating process. It is one that does not happen mystically or by chance. Instead, successful entrepreneurs follow certain timeless principles that enable them to make their goals a reality. Fortunately, these principles can be broken down into specific steps that you can adapt to your own product launching efforts. In fact, there are 9 of them.

In this article, we will examine each of these 9 steps in detail. By understanding these steps inside and out, you will be better positioned to launch your product no matter where in the process you happen to be. Feel free to skip to the stage of product development or launch that you happen to be in.

Step 1: Thinking of an idea

Brainstorming invention ideas can feel like a strange, mystical process. Much of this stems from the way people tend to think about ideas. If you have ever heard someone say "You can't think of great ideas. They just come to you", you know what this means. We are taught that good ideas spontaneously pour into us, and we need the good sense to act on them if and when they do. Venture capitalist Paul Graham addresses this in his article "Ideas For Startups"

"If coming up with an idea for a startup equals coming up with a million dollar idea, then of course it's going to seem hard. Too hard to bother trying. Our instincts tell us something so valuable would not be just lying around for anyone to discover."

The problem with this line of thinking, as Paul later explains, is that ideas in and of themselves are not what generates millions of dollars. The reason we feel so much internal resistance to the prospect of actively generating ideas is that we figure "If there was a good idea, someone else would've had it already." In fact, this is the wrong way to look at ideas. Generating ideas is an active (and active-minded) process. What really makes ideas pay is how they are executed, which is something you can control considerably. But it does, of course, start with the idea.

So if it is possible to generate ideas, how is it done? One good way to generate ideas is to limit your thinking to fields you like, or know exceptionally well. This limits the people you are competing against to those with your level of passion and expertise.

What you really want to do is turn off the self-censorship instinct that all of us have as human beings. When we come up with ideas or new thoughts, we tend to think "No, that's stupid" just because we have not already heard it elsewhere. Instead, try submitting your idea to a few minutes of rational scrutiny before discarding it as worthless. Think it through from top to bottom. Would I buy this? If not, why? What might my objections be? Can they be overcome? How? The further you get into this process, the more value your idea probably has. Above all, just let the ideas flow. You will separate the wheat from the chaff in step two.

Step 2: Decide if your idea is worth pursuing.

There's nothing like the enthusiasm one feels during a proverbial "I've got it!" moment. However, you still need to step back and reflect soberly on whether your idea is worth pursuing. Here are some things to consider in doing this.

Determine how well it will work.

How well will your idea work in practice? Will it work well enough to replace what people in this field already use? One easy way to determine this is to actively work in the field you envision your product being used for. This will give you a first hand glimpse into the current reality of what's out there and let you tangibly see how your creation would improve it. If that's not possible, find someone you trust in that field and bounce your idea off of them for feedback.

Who wants it?

There's nothing worse than wasting weeks, months, or even years theorizing about a creation that's "gonna be soooo great!" only to discover that no specific segment of customers truly wants it. To avoid this nightmare scenario, tell others about your idea. Ask them if and in what way it would truly improve their lives. The trick here is asking people who don't know you very well. They are more likely to be honest instead of preoccupied with not hurting your feelings.

How can it be made?

Another common pitfall is glossing over the messy particulars of how something will be made. In the euphoria of brainstorming, your mind is naturally drawn to the sexy aspects of invention, such as the huge market waiting to be capitalized or your pitch to investors. Instead, force yourself to focus on exactly what it will take to bring your patent idea to life. How can it be made? What materials are needed? What types of skills are necessary to put it all together? Having firm answers to these questions turns you from dreamer into doer.

If your idea can withstand this type of analysis, you are ready for step three.

Step 3: Creating an inventor's logbook.

Documenting new ideas is not just good practice. It may be absolutely critical if you intend on getting a patent for something and bringing it to market. So how do you go about keeping good records?

The answer is something called a logbook. A logbook is essentially an inventor's journal. It is where the inventor keeps track of his progress and dates each step. A logbook proves that you came up with your idea at a certain date and displayed due diligence in pursuing it. However, there are some definite standards you should adhere to when keeping a logbook. This will help ensure that your documentation looks legitimate to patent examiners.

1. You should start your logbook as soon as you think of an idea. Write down detailed records of key concepts, test results, and anything else having to do with the creation of your idea. This is the type of material that belongs in a logbook.

2. While there are pre-made logbooks for sale, you can easily make your own. Be sure to use a bound notebook, however, and not a loose-leaf. The reason is that bound notebooks make it hard to conceal the fact that pages were added or taken out.

3. Number each page consecutively. This establishes that the progress you made on your idea took place in a sequential order that anyone with common sense can observe. When one notebook is full, begin a new one and specify that this notebook is a continuation of the last one. There should be no visible gaps in your record keeping.

4. Each entry you write should be signed and dated by you and anyone else who participated in that step of the invention process. If at all possible, get a notary public to sign as well.

5. Give each entry a header with information about what is contained in it. For example, the date, subject, number of participants, witnesses, etc.

6. Include records of everything you do. When in doubt, assume that it is best to include it. Do not just include successful test results, for example. If you exclude negative findings or tests, the patent examiner may decide that you "cherry-picked" only the good stuff and reject your application.

7. Any and all other participants in the invention process need to have their roles disclosed. The importance of this convention cannot be stressed enough. If you omit an inventor's name from an invention he helped create, it is considered fraud.

8. Any loose materials like drawings, photos, or sketches should be signed, dated, and cross-referenced to the notebook entry they pertain to. It is best to tape or staple this material to the notebook entries in question.

Follow these tips, and your documentation will be airtight and at the ready, should a dispute ever arise.

Step 4: Identify a target market.

When you set out to bring a product to market, it's essential to know which market you are targeting. Many new entrepreneurs make the mistake of shooting for a very broad segment of the population. Their logic is that the more people they target, the more chances they have to make sales. In reality, however, it rarely works this way. In fact, you want to target as narrow a segment as you possibly can. This makes the people you target more likely to buy, and enables you to do more specific market research in your efforts.

Who is your ideal customer? What are their buying behaviors? Is your product seasonal, or do people typically buy it each and every month? The importance of scoping out the market cannot be stressed enough, as it will determine your distribution plans, price structure, and other important factors.

Ultimately, you will craft a marketing plan based on your target market. That is somewhat beyond the scope of this article, but here is a sample marketing plan. Consult it for details on what types of forecasts you should be setting and how to set them.

SRC: http://www.morebusiness.com/templates_worksheets/bplans/printpre.brc

Once you have thought these questions through and come up with some plausible answers, proceed to step 5.

Step 5: Research that market.

Once you have identified your target market, the next step is to research it.

In this phase, you want to immerse yourself in trade journals, spec sheets, and periodicals about the industry your patent pertains to. You want to discover the prices of various commodities in the market that you will traffic in, the supply and demand patterns that determine the flow of the market. The goal of all this fact-finding is answering the following questions:

1. Who are my customers? (age, sex, income, etc.)

2. Where are they and how can I reach them? (what magazines/newspapers do they read?)

3. What quantity (and quality) do they want? (are there surveys that gather this data?)

4. What is the best time to sell? (Seasonal, yearly, etc.)

Many trade journals and industry sources can be accessed via the Internet. Yahoo, for example, offers an abundance of such material segmented by industry. Simply click the industry you want to research (law, jewelry, automotive, etc.) and you can browse a list of sources pertaining to them.

SRC: http://dir.yahoo.com/Business_and_Economy/Business_to_Business/News_and_Media/Magazines/Trade_Magazines/

Step 6: Re-evaluate/improve your product based on that research.

To paraphrase Prussian Field Marshall Helmuth von Moltke, "no product survives first contact with reality." If you are like most entrepreneurs, picking a target market and researching it has given you some ideas to improve your product. Here are some things you can tinker with, based on what you learned?

* Product packaging

* Pricing

* Distribution (where you'll sell it)

* The name

* Just about anything else open to your control

Once you have made the improvements you see fit, head to step 7 -- the prototype!

Step 7: Create a prototype.

Creating a prototype is one of the most rewarding phases of the invention process. It is that fateful day when all your hopes, dreams, planning, and research culminate in a working model. By this point, you are ready to whip up that prototype for display to investors, business partners, or the patent office (see next step.) Keep in mind that your prototype does not have to use the same materials, or look exactly like your finished product ultimately will. It just has to approximate what you have in mind and demonstrate that you are in fact working on it.

Once you have a prototype up and running, you can proceed to step 8.

Step 8: Secure a patent.

In the understandable excitement and inspirational fire of creation, many inventors rush into the patent process without doing their homework. Unfortunately, their zeal to push forward often comes back to haunt them in the form of longer wait times, higher fees, and more work that could have been avoided with proper planning.

One of the biggest mistakes many inventors make is filing a non-provisional patent right away. A non-provisional patent is "the real patent." To file for one, you need to fill out a bevy of legal forms, include sketches and drawings of your invention, and pay hefty fees. If your application is approved, you are granted a patent by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

While many inventors will one day need to do this, few of them need to do it immediately. Instead, there is another equally safe but less expensive way to go: the $100 provisional patent application. In a provisional patent application, you do not file a formal patent claim, oath, or any disclosure statements about your invention. But what a provisional patent will do is lock in your application date and give you "patent pending" status.

If you have ever seen "patent pending" on product packaging or commercials, it is because the company in question filed a provisional patent application with the Patent and Trademark Office. It is actually unlawful to use "patent pending" unless you have done this.

What this means in layman's terms is that you can begin to market your invention and gauge how much interest (if any) there is before deciding to file for a non-provisional patent. In the meantime, you can market your invention with the full rights and protections of a non-provisional patent. If you have ever seen "patent pending" on product packaging or commercials, it is because the company in question filed a provisional patent application with the Patent and Trademark Office.

If you are smart and work quickly, you can use that 12 month period to hustle your idea and generate interest in it. By the end of that time you should have a very good idea of whether it is worth applying for a non-provisional patent.

Step 9: Decide on your track

There are several "tracks" you can take to bring your product to the marketplace.

One track is to become an "outsource entrepreneur." In this way, you essentially become a hired gun. You, the inventor, perform the tasks of researching and developing the product. Then, you "outsource" the manufacturing and marketing to partners with money. Those partners will develop, market, and fund the startup costs. In return for their greater efforts, they will receive a greater return. The benefit to you, however, is that this is one of the quickest ways to bring a product to market and exit with cash in hand. If you are a serial inventor, this can be a great way to build up some cash and move on from one idea to the next.

A second track open to you is licensing or selling your patent outright. Very simply, licensing is when another company takes over your new product idea and cuts you in on the sales via royalties. While selling a patent is fairly self explanatory on the surface, you should seek consultation from a lawyer prior to finalizing an agreement to ensure all legal documents are in place. Licensees can be manufacturers, marketers, or basically anyone who wants to carry your product into the market and pay you for the right to do so. Licensing arrangements are also flexible; some licensees take on all the risk, some take on less. However, most companies will only license a product if they are more or less sure it will succeed. Therefore, it is up to you to convince them of your product's prospects.

The disadvantage of licensing is that the earning potential is a bit lower than outsourcing, but the tremendous upside is that once you license a product you basically have no more responsibility to the product.

The other track is the most risky, and thusly the most potentially rewarding: starting your own company. In this case, you assume full responsibility: you make the product, you price the product, you get the product online or on store shelves, you handle the accounting, you pay the taxes, you own the process from start to finish. For more information on the steps involved, including writing a business plan and finding a manufacturer, view our other articles.

This is by far the most difficult process and many people rightfully so decide before hand to opt for sales or licensing agreements. However, if you do decide to move forward and create a business (highest reward and most risk) around your intellectual property you want to ensure that you hire on top talent. Failing to do so can lead to years of problems and ongoing stress. It's far better to invest in something you believe in and share some of the pie to increase your chances of building a successful company than to go it alone and take arrows.

By keeping these 9 steps in mind, you can increase the likelihood of success in bringing your product to market with confidence and profitability.

How Effective Is Your Answering Service?

When running a clinic or medical practice, efficiency can literally save you hundreds of dollars per week... and tens of thousands or more in a year. Getting a good medical answering service to work for you can give you this edge. However, with so many choices in phone answering services today, it can leave your head swimming with possibilities. It's actually quite simple. There are certain key factors that put some way above all the rest. So, before you invest in a call answering service, know what to look for:

24/7 Multiple capabilities

An efficient doctor answering service is able to perform one of several tasks at any given time. Whether it is being used as an after-hours medical receptionist or as a backup clinic receptionist during the busiest hours of the day, an efficient system should enable a caller to schedule an appointment, contact medical staff in case of an emergency, or leave a voice mail.

User-friendliness

A user-friendly physician answering service system is a pleasure to use, both for your patients and your staff. It encourages patients to call your office to schedule an appointment or make an inquiry, even when reaching an automated after office hours answering service. Staff members appreciate having more time to take care of other more pressing matters such as patient care and medical billing.

Free Online 24/7 Tech Support

A good virtual answering service will offer life time 24/7 technical support. No matter how user-friendly a system may be, your staff members who are only familiar with providing live answering services may feel intimidated or that they are not tech-savvy enough to work with an automated system. 24/7 support puts your staff at ease, knowing that they can get friendly and helpful support whenever they need it.

Choosing an a 24/7 medical answering service is easy, once you know which elements support maximum efficiency. Looking for a system with multiple capabilities, user friendliness and free online tech support are three major factors to consider. At the end of the year, an efficient answering message service could make the difference of thousands of dollars in retained revenue.

Selling your Southern California Business - Open Listings Vs Exclusive Listings

When it comes to selling your business in California, an exclusive listing with a business broker provides the greatest likelihood of success for both the seller and the broker.

Only a limited number of business brokers will accept an open listing, and typically, a broker that chooses to work with such a limited commitment from a seller will NOT provide the greatest amount of effort to sell the business. Likewise, the commitment level of the seller is questionable. To understand this point in more detail, let's start with a definition of the two types of listings.

Open Listing:

An Open Listing is an authorization to sell a business or property. It may be given to several brokers concurrently or the business may be sold by the owner himself. There is usually no time limit associated with this type of listing. If the owner sells the property through his own efforts, he is not responsible to pay commissions to any of the listing brokers. An open listing may be canceled by either party at any time.

Exclusive Right-to-Sell Listing:

The Exclusive Right-to-Sell listing is the most common type of listing. It provides one broker the right to sell the business exclusively. This listing entitles the broker to commissions on the sale during the life of the listing agreement, even if the owner himself sells the business. This type of listing runs for a specific period of time, usually six months. The agreement may only be canceled by the listing broker during that period.

Initially, the open listing may sound like a great way to maintain more options; however, typically this type of listing agreement is a waste of time for both the seller and the broker. Here are a few reasons why this agreement can be counter-productive.

• Initial Effort

For a business broker to do his job properly, he must invest a large amount of time and effort up front long before the business actually sells or even goes to market. He must review the business from many different perspectives and understand the many unique aspects of the business including operations, financials, history, marketing, licensing, leasehold and personnel. This work must be performed before the business goes to market. The only way a broker can protect this initial effort is to secure an exclusive agreement with the seller. That way he can feel secure in dedicating the proper amount of time and effort necessary to do his job well.

• Co-broker Concerns

Often a broker will have concerns about offering the business to other cooperating brokers with only an open listing. Unfortunately, there are some less ethical agents that may try to circumvent the original broker and bring a buyer directly to the seller. With an open listing, this is a real concern. You want your broker to be able to offer the business opportunity to any qualified business broker without hesitation. With an exclusive right-to-sell listing he has protection from any non-principled brokers.

• Marketing Restraints

The concerns about the way an open listing is marketed are two fold. First, a broker will be concerned about the amount of money they are willing to invest in marketing an open listing, knowing that it may be canceled at any moment. Secondly, the broker must be very careful about the details he reveals to prospective buyers because a buyer can move to a different broker, or even try to work directly with the owner at any time. Both of these worries restrain the marketing effort.

• Competing With the Owner

Often in an open listing the seller can and will compete with the broker by bringing in his own buyers. This type of environment can create an adversarial relationship between the seller and broker. Without the cooperation of both broker and seller, deals rarely ever close. I always describe the right relationship between the seller and his broker to be just like a good partnership. Both parties work together toward the same goal. Selling a business is a difficult operation; make sure you work together with your broker for the same goal. By doing this you have the highest likelihood of a successful transaction.

Joe D. Robertson is the Broker and Owner of Southern California Business Brokers; Orange County primer full-service business brokerage.

Tips on Business Culture in Dubai

Business is booming in Dubai and many Britons are heading out there to work. But, anyone thinking of working there must familiarise themselves with the cultural etiquette before starting work there, if they are to avoid insulting Dubai nationals, or even break the country's laws.

The first thing to consider is respect. Never criticise or correct a client or colleague in front of others. Causing such a public loss of face will ensure that the individual concerned with be filled with resentment and make any future co-operation extremely difficult. Sensitive discussions with a colleague or client should be done in private.

Western businesses may choose their own working hours, but bear in mind that Arab companies schedule their working week from Saturday to Wednesday; working hours start at 8 a.m. and stop at 1 p.m. In the scorching heat of summer a siesta is a common practice taken until 4 p.m. with work resuming immediately afterwards until 7 p.m. During the Muslin festival of Ramadan the working day becomes two hours shorter.

Arab cultures dress much more conservatively than western cultures as a rule, and although it may be more relaxed in Dubai there is still an unspoken dress code that must be closely followed. Ensure clothes are worn that cover both the body and limbs - however hot and oppressive the heat may be - and they must be smart.

The Muslim day of prayer and rest is Friday, so avoid making phone calls or scheduling meetings with any Muslim clients or colleagues on that day. During Ramadan Muslims are not permitted to eat, drink or smoke during daylight hours but non-believers can, although they must be sensitive to the occasion and do so away from public gaze.

Business meetings with Arab clients or colleagues may begin with a very informal preamble. They often take place in restaurants or cafes at a Dubai business hotel rather than an office, beginning with polite conversation, usually about each other's families. However, whenever the conversation turns to business it is usually resolved much quicker than in formal western business meetings. When meeting a handshake is followed by a touch of the heart with the right hand to show sincerity, and a woman's hand is shaken only if it is offered.

Although business meetings are less formal than western standards, by contrast business lunches tend to be more formal. As a strict rule alcohol is never involved, and it is essential that when sitting opposite an Arab colleague or client that the soles of shoes are not directed towards them as that is considered extremely offensive in Arabic culture.

There are many other less obvious do's and don'ts involved with ensuring that business is conducted efficiently, properly and without offence in Dubai, and as with any business deal anyone travelling there should ensure that they are thoroughly briefed before they leave.

Andrew Regan is an online, freelance author from Scotland. He is a keen rugby player and enjoys travelling.

How Can You Improve on Bad Habits Concerning Trends?

After identifying your organization's bad habits about orienting yourself optimally relative to trends, you'll need to work at eliminating the bad habits so that they can be replaced with the desired habits. Communication and learning are good ways to begin.

Rather than starting by sharing the conclusions you arrive at about what your organization's bad habits are, you'll get better results if you take other people in your enterprise through the process of answering these questions:

1. What irresistible forces are already affecting your enterprise?

2. What has your enterprise done well in responding to, adapting to, anticipating, and creating these forces?

3. Why did your organization do well with regard to these forces?

4. What habits would have helped your organization to be more successful in these past situations?

5. What existing habits are in conflict with the habits that would help you be more successful?

You'll learn something, too, because you'll often find that the perceptions of others will differ from yours. With more perceptions to work with, you're likely to get better ideas for how to improve.

One way to do this is to measure performance and share the results. For example, most companies would never acquire oil producing companies if they realized that the inflation-adjusted dollar price of petroleum products has always declined over the long term. Seagram might never have bought Conoco had they realized this fact, and instead improved the company's acquisition habits while increasing the resources available for acquisitions.

Start Becoming a Stallbuster Now

Be sure to use the questions in each essay you read on this subject to tie the lessons of each lesson back to your organization. If you have not yet gotten out a pencil and some paper, or turned on your computer, now is a good time to begin making permanent your observations.

This article can be a valuable resource for you. But this will only happen if you follow through by working on the questions as they arise.

In addition to answering the questions, make a list of your own improvement ideas as they occur to you and keep the list with you as you read the rest of the book. You'll find that your ideas are likely to change and improve as you read more material and answer the questions at the end of each essay.

Make notes of how your ideas change. Keeping such a list will also encourage you to work more in this area of replacing bad habits because you'll have written record to show you how much you've learned from when you started reading these essays.

You will have obviously to move from thinking into action before the benefits will become tangible. Having a record of how much your thinking has been stalled will encourage you to take that needed action.

Copyright 2008 Donald W. Mitchell, All Rights Reserved

Donald Mitchell is chairman of Mitchell and Company, a strategy and financial consulting firm in Weston, MA. He is coauthor of seven books including Adventures of an Optimist, The Irresistible Growth Enterprise, and The Ultimate Competitive Advantage.